Book of Mormon Art Tours

Hello Family!

I'm back to the sore feet days in the city, and it's great! Here's a funny from the week. The other night as we were leaving a building I was looking at our schedule on my tablet to see what was next and I ran straight into a glass window next to the door hahaha!! Also in the city there are air grates along the sidewalk that go to the subways. So when a subway whooshes by, air comes rushing out. So we as sister missionaries in skirts try to avoid those haha!

We have a really sweet investigator named Jennifer! She's a media referral which is so cool! We have a cool piloting program with media referrals in our mission where there are ads specified for individuals who search anything relating to God, the purpose of life, and other religious things like that. So we are getting tons of referrals here in the New York New York North Mission which is amazing! Anyways, she saw an ad on facebook and now we're meeting with her! She's wonderful and accepted an invitation to baptism so we're excited to keep teaching her!

One of my new favorite things that we do here is Art Tours at the Manhattan Temple/Lincoln Square chapel. As you know, half of the building is a temple while the other half is a church, so it's very unique! We have 14 original paintings of Walter Rane's depiction of Book of Mormon stories there on display. Walter Rane is a local New York painter who was actually in the bishopric in my Harlem Ward, so it's fun to know him personally. We offer free art tours of these original paintings and are able to teach about the Book of Mormon through pictures. I love it!! You all need to Google Walter Rane's art if you haven't seen it before and look at his beautiful paintings! (Shoot me a little email and tell me about your favorite one and why!)

The reason we have this Visitors Center type thing with the sisters giving art tours is because in the last 6 months we have had two baptisms in our mission from people just walking in to the building out of curiosity and missionaries happened to be there. So we're trying to keep missionaries available there as much as possible:) Many miracles in the NYNYN Mission and many to come! #whitechristmas (white as in baptism clothes) 👼🏻 That's our goal:)

I hope you all enjoy your week! I love you lots!

Love, Sister Johnson

My first Shake Shack shake at Grand Central Station!

BYU in New York??;) (It's for Yale)

New York Public library

Guess what... :) Transfer#12

Hello Family!

You'll never guess where I am right now... back in the CITY!!! I am serving in the Manhattan 2nd Ward which covers from 110th street to 34th street of Manhattan on the east side of Central Park. I was super surprised to be heading back to the city again, but I'm glad to be back:) I love Manhattan! My new companion is Sister Randall from St. George, Utah and I love her already! She is a dancer and the oldest of 5. I am so excited to serve with her here:)

I was pretty sad to leave my little New Paltz Branch. I love the faith and examples of the members there, and it felt too soon to leave them, but I promised I would come back. During my last week there we saw a lot of success! We had a Book of Mormon finding activity at the campus with our big Book of Mormon board. We would ask people if they had heard about the Book of Mormon before and it was amazing! One student walked right up to us and without us even asking said, "No, I've never heard of the Book of Mormon. Tell me about it." We taught Chris, met him the next day and had a great lesson, and then met him again on Monday! He is sincere and really has a desire to know more and know if this is true! 

Another was a girl named Amanda who has been so prepared. She has a lot of questions about Jesus Christ right now because she has been studying a lot of different religions. I asked if she ever wondered why there are so many churches on the earth and she said "No... (then after pondering for a while) why?!" I explained Christ coming, the Apostasy, and the Restoration of the Gospel through Joseph Smith and she was amazed! She was so excited to read the Book of Mormon and learn more. We got quite a few other potential investigators from that as well, so it was definitely a success! 

I know the Book of Mormon is true. It has the answers to all the questions we have if we sincerely study and ponder what it teaches. I know Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith and called him to be a prophet in these latter-days. We are living in the dispensation of the fulness of times, and what a blessing it is to share that with others!

Make it a great week!

Love, Sister Johnson

Beautiful Fall Hike at Mohonk

Walkway across the Hudson

In front of our New Paltz chapel

SUNNY New Paltz campus:)

Me and Sister Perkins at transfers

 We went to a super awesome museum about the city of New York and the transformation from when it was just a piece of wilderness land to now! Amazing:) My wonderful new companion, Sister Randall!:)

Our zone

 

Strengthened by the Lord.

Hello Family! 

We had a special experience during Sacrament this week in our little branch:) We have a member who is blind, Brother Krom. He plays the piano sometimes and after years and years of being a member he finally received the Aaronic Priesthood. For a long time he just didn't feel ready, but he got it two weeks ago and has been so excited! This last Sunday he helped pass the sacrament for the first time. One of our young men guided him as he passed the bread and water with his arm around him the whole time telling him when to go, turn, and stop. It was so special to think about how the very thing we were remembering, the Atonement of Jesus Christ, is what will someday restore him to perfect health. Jesus Christ himself caused the blind to see when he was on the earth, yet Brother Krom is still blind. Why do we have to deal with those things now? Why do bad and hard things have to happen to good people? It's hard for sure, no doubt about it, and we all have our share of imperfections and weaknesses in life, but I truly believe that they are all for our benefit if we let them be. If we draw closer to Him and trust him, he can help us:) 

Just like in Alma 2:28 with the Nephites and their weaknesses as they went up to battle, but "nevertheless, the Nephites being strengthened by the hand of the Lord, having prayed mightily to him that he would deliver them out of the hands of their enemies, therefore the Lord did hear their cries, and did strengthen them, and the Lamanites and the Amlicites did fall before them." We can overcome our enemies (weaknesses and imperfections) in the strength of the Lord.

Three times so far we have used a Conference Talk that ended up being perfect for what someone needed! Keep reviewing them, they're amazing!:)

We had a busy day today with hiking this morning at Mohonk Resort and then with our district we walked over the Hudson River on the Walkway in Poughkeepsie! It was lots of fun and I'll send pictures:) Make it a great week! Love you:)

Love, Sister Johnson 

General Conference

Hello Family!

General Conference was amazing, wow! I love the encouragement, inspiration , and unity we can feel at General Conference and I know those who spoke to us were called by God and spoke His words:) I love General Conference!! And now that we've heard all these wonderful talks, what are we going to do about it? Therefore, what? Like Elder Anderson said, "There is a treasure chest of heavenly direction awaiting your discovery in the messages of general conference. The test for each of us is how we respond to what we hear, what we read, and what we feel." Is that not a wonderful and exciting promise? A TREASURE CHEST full of guidance, blessings, and help! So, what are we going to do?! These talks are like our modern day scriptures specific for the next six months of our lives. I encourage you to "feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do." Review the talks and act on the messages we have received because they really will tell you all things you should do in the next 6 months!:) 

We had a super great Missionary Finding activity at the SUNY Campus yesterday! We had one of the young women in our branch, Lizzie, paint a world map on the back of our Book of Mormon board up here! (Sounds familiar right? Flashback to the city!) She did a great job and we were able to talk to a lot of people about Family History work and introduce them to the restored gospel:) We found two new investigators and the Elders found one as well, which is already heading towards more than we have found in a while! It's been amazing as a mission to focus on individuals age 18-30. This is the decade of decisions always talked about, and this is an amazing time to change their life! We've been spending a lot more time at the campus, and it's been fun to act in faith and have cool little contacts with people.

We also did some fun service for a few members this week! We got to paint someone's room and we did some yard work cleaning and organizing so that was fun! 

Also it's Sister Perkins birthday today! Wahoo:) P-day B-day! Here's a funny story about her in honor of her birthday:) She grew up on a farm and the other night she told me how she would clean their chickens. In my head I was like, "aww they give their chickens a bath, how cute!" until the conversation turned to chopping their heads off... different kind of clean;) She's great though and I'm glad I get to be her companion:)

Make it a great week! 

Love, Sister Johnson 

1-2. Service!

3. Sister Perkins driving!

4-5. The world map Lizzie painted for us:)